The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago

A wry, fictional account of the life of Christ by Nobel laureate José Saramago

A brilliant skeptic, José Saramago envisions the life of Jesus Christ and the story of his Passion as things of this earth: A child crying, the caress of a woman half asleep, the bleat of a goat, a prayer uttered in the grayish morning light. His idea of the Holy Family reflects the real complexities of any family, and—as only Saramago can—he imagines them with tinges of vision, dream, and omen. The result is a deft psychological portrait that moves between poetry and irony, spirituality and irreverence of a savior who is at once the Son of God and a young man. In this provocative, tender novel, the subject of wide critical discussion and wonder, Saramago questions the meaning of God, the foundations of the Church, and human existence itself.

JOSÉ SARAMAGO (1922-2010) was the author of many novels, among them Blindness, All the Names, Baltasar and Blimunda, and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Unrated Critic Reviews for The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Kirkus Reviews

All the familiar stories--the Annunciation, the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Miracles, and the Crucifixion--are related with a nod to postmodern sensibilities, but they're secondary to Saramago's main purpose--to suggest that Jesus had to live and die as much for the benefit of God as for the ...